A ‘Good Frame of Mind’ is the AmericanFrame.com company blog where we write about all things art & framing. Here you will find a range of articles on frame design, framing tips and techniques, printing tutorials and answers to your ‘frequently asked’ customer service questions. We love to interact with our audience so we hope you’ll join our community by subscribing and commenting on the blog.

Tabs

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Featured Artist Mark Friedman

Multi-faceted artist and technophile Mark Friedman is always looking to
synthesize and integrate.“I want to use
technology to create art that you couldn’t make otherwise.”Consistent with this enthusiasm, Friedman is
both a photographer and a digital artist, using several types of specialized
software to “paint” digital originals.

“One of the greatest things about digital work is how much exploration
and experimentation you can do, because it’s so easy to undo things that don’t
work out.”

Friedman got interested in art at the age of fifteen, when his mother
“dragged” him to a Van Gogh exhibit and the work “blew him away.”He began working with images through
photography as well as expressing himself through poetry and music.It was the poetry that led to his interest in
digital art.“I was designing the back
cover of a book of my poems and got carried away.”

Since then he has concentrated on his visual art, particularly striving
to mimic impressionist brushstrokes and texture with digital tools.In addition he has recently been
experimenting with the creation of an art genre he calls “digital poetry,” in
which he adds animation and sound to his poetry in a digital medium, such as
iTunes.For more on Mark’s work you can
check out his website at www.mdfriedman.com.

The featured piece, “Swimming,” won first place in the Lafayette
Community Art Show in 2011.“I had been
to Key West that year on tour with my band and was blown away by the underwater
world.The colors haunted me until I did
this piece.”

When displaying his work Friedman often forgoes the frame in favor of an
unframed stretched canvas.He has also
mounted paper prints on backboard beveled so that, when hung, the piece appears
to float off the wall.

We’ve framed “Swimming” in a traditional manner.Affordably printed on paper and dry mounted
for durability, the piece is accented by three mats and a shimmery
charcoal-colored moulding from our solid-wood Motif collection.The frame’s soft metallic finish speaks to
the reflective qualities of the image’s colors and its simple lines pair well
with the abstract, contemporary twist on sea-life.The bottom mat is a warm white (CS9509), creating the
necessary break between the image and the dark brown (CS9836) of the accent mat which
comes next.The top most dominant mat is
a neutral peach (CS9517), several shades lighter than the brown mat to stay in keeping
with the mellow vibe of Friedman’s image.